In which I choose to see

"Ohio victims bound in ropes and chains."

"The Benghazi Hearings"

"Arias says in post-conviction interview that she'd prefer to die."

"The Kermit Gosnell Trial"

STOP.

I have turned off the news.

I have put away my cell phone.

I am sick and tired of the assault of evil upon my senses and my spirit.

The world seems to be spiraling out of control.  The hurt, the violence, the anger, the total disregard for life and all things holy threaten my peace.  What God says is good is considered bad, and what God says is bad is accepted, lauded, celebrated.  There is so much bad in today's news.  So much evil appearing to triumph over good.  So many dying, enslaved to sin, or just truly enslaved.  I can turn my head, or I can walk with my eyes fixed on Jesus.  I can ignore the problems that consume our world, or I can be a part of the solution.  I can pretend I am blind, or I can choose to SEE.

I choose to see.  I choose to see the woman in the hotel, with her black eye healing slowly, toting the baby on her hip to the food line.  I choose to see her hesitancy to meet my eye, and the way she avoids the men.  

I choose to see the house down the road with the yellow ribbon around the tree, the car with the American flag and the date of death of their soldier...their husband, their daddy.  

I choose to see how a culture of death and violence has created monsters and even the women of this culture resort to the most base forms of revenge.  

I choose to see how the enemy has us fooled, how we don't believe in spiritual warfare anymore and we go about our day ignorant while the battle rages unseen.

But the battle, it rages hot and fierce.

I choose to open the Word of God and believe that, in the end, Jesus has won the victory and we get to be part of His battle plan.  We get to be on the front lines, loving and serving and seeing the desperation behind the angry faces.  We get to share the answer to their unspoken questions...that HE LOVES YOU SO MUCH and YOU ARE NOT ALONE.  

You were never intended to handle these hard days of life alone.    

I get to fall down on my knees and pray for a miracle for a cancer-stricken woman who is just barely not homeless and watch the people of God rally around her in love.  

I get to share the excitement of a homeless young man, now given a chance at life, who has been virtually blind and now eagerly awaits the arrival of new glasses.  I get to explain to my kids why I'm not overly concerned about the fact that he smokes, because he is trying to get his life together and smoking is the least of his problems right now.  

"We have to show grace, baby, and remember from where he has come.  We have to love him and be examples of what he can become if he will work hard and make good decisions."

I get to read about astronauts and firetrucks to my little boy and inspire him to dream big, to imagine what can be if he follows God's call upon his life.

I get to teach my children so much more than math.  I get to teach them what family really means, what forever is all about.  I get to teach them about grace even as I struggle to grasp the reality of it myself.

I choose to see, to look up and not at the television.  I choose to listen to words that build up and prosper instead of another news report telling of the unthinkable, the unbelievable, the ungodly.  

By His grace, I choose life.  We all can.  

Psalm 119:37-Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.

May we be given eyes to see, ears to hear, and hands willing to be calloused for the glory of God!